


The Acquisition of Love

by Nixie_DeAngel



Series: ColdWestAllen Weeks [2]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Domestic, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff not Fear, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Misunderstandings, Multi, Polyamory, Waverider Crew Mention, insecure len, mentions of voilence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-15
Updated: 2016-11-15
Packaged: 2018-08-31 04:36:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8564299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nixie_DeAngel/pseuds/Nixie_DeAngel
Summary: Len knew when he’d made the choice to join up with Rip Hunter and his band of bleeding hearts that he wouldn’t be coming back to the same life he’d left behind. But he didn’t think life would change this drastically in the nearly eleven months he’d been gone on the Waverider.He kept himself back, hidden from Iris and Barry’s view as he watched them. Trailing twenty yards back, he followed after them, keeping to the shadows as he did so. He couldn’t believe his eyes as he watched them lean into one another, Iris pushing a stroller, Barry forever at her side, happily bouncing a young infant in his arms.





	

**Author's Note:**

> * Day Two of ColdWestAllen Week 2016, Kid Fic.
> 
> This is a prequel for my story I'm [Keeping Him Safe](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7866265).

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Len knew when he’d made the choice to join up with Rip Hunter and his band of bleeding hearts that he wouldn’t be coming back to the same life he’d left behind. But he didn’t think life would change this drastically in the nearly eleven months he’d been gone on the Waverider.

He kept himself back, hidden from Iris and Barry’s view as he watched them. Trailing twenty yards back, he followed after them, keeping to the shadows as he did so. He couldn’t believe his eyes as he watched them lean into one another, Iris pushing a stroller, Barry forever at her side, happily bouncing a young infant in his arms.

Swallowing down the disappointment and hurt, Len forced himself to stop, to not take another step as the young family moved further away from him. He let them fade from sight, as they’d clearly let him fade from memory.

He knew he’d risked losing them when he’d slipped out that last night before joining the others to fight Vandal Savage. Honestly, he’d thought once Iris and Barry had learned he’d gone off to save the world, they’d forgive him, that they’d welcome him back. That his choice would prove to everyone in their lives that Len truly did love them, that he was truly serious about his feelings for Iris and Barry.

Scoffing at himself, Len couldn’t believe how stupid he’d been to think anything would work. Clearly, to Barry and Iris, he’d only been a few months of fun. _Promises of a real future_ , Len thought with a snort of disgust, _what a fucking joke_. They’d never been serious about him.

Taking one last look at the young, happy family, Len slipped away, intent on getting away from them as quickly as possible. From the memories haunting him, that had kept him going while he’d been away fighting.

Instead of finding Lisa and getting answers to the dozens of questions he had, Len headed to a safe house only Mick knew about to hole himself up in. Finding barely any comfort in knowing since Mick had decided to keep going with Sara and the others, that he’d be left alone to wallow in his misery without interruption.

Which he did, spending the next two weeks wallowing like teenage girl, though he’d deny it if anyone ever found out. Len, he hadn’t known what to do really when he’d arrived at the small apartment after buying nearly three hundred dollars’ worth of alcohol, feeding himself on take out and simply avoid the world.

Though, eventually he couldn’t take the emptiness, the nothingness, couldn’t fight the need to get out and do something. So, after eleven days, Len showered and pulled on real clothes before going out to wander aimlessly for more than an hour, when he’d decided to head over to a nearby dive bar that he use to frequent with Mick back in the day.

Sitting himself near the back, close to the secondary exit, Len nursed a beer for a while before deciding he’d had enough interaction with other people. Climbing out of his booth, he dropped a twenty down and slipped out the exit only to come out and see three men surrounding a young woman.

Stopping short, Len eyed the group, taking the time to apprise them since they hadn’t spotted him yet. They were young, probably mid-twenties, all in decent shape, clearly drunk. Taking a breath, Len barely eyed the young woman, only noting the look of absolute fear on her face, before he took another breath and moved to intervene.

Not waiting, not thinking, Len throw himself at the largest, knocking his hold on the young woman, easily gaining the attention of the other two. He gave the woman enough time to slip away, maybe even get help but Len doubted she’d be thinking about doing anything other than getting as far away as she could.

It was a quick scuffle, made even quicker when one of the idiots pulled out a knife, slashing at Len. He’d barely missed the blade when the idiot had swung towards his face as he’d jump back, only to stumble into one of the others who’d wrapped the arms around Len, holding him still as the lead swung his arm back, blade slicing throw the sweater and into his lower stomach, on the left side.

Len let out a small gasp at the unexpected sting of pain, when suddenly he was stumbling back, blinking Len saw all three idiots tied up and knocked out a few feet from him. Though before he could fall into the wall behind him, or fall to the ground, suddenly Barry was right in front of him, face twisted up with worry and anger.

“Len, oh my god Len, just, just hold on okay,” Barry spoke, his voice almost hysterical, as he helped to ease the older man towards the ground, before tapping his comm unit, “Cisco, you guys need to prep the infirmary. I don’t have time to answer, just do it,” he snapped, eyes wide. Bringing his gloved hand up to cup Len’s lower jaw, “Just a few seconds Len, Caitlin’ll have you patched up in no time.”

“Scar-scarlet?” Len slurred out, blinking slowly before moving his gaze down to see the knife sticking out of his abdomen. “Wha’ are you doin’ here?”

“Shh, just,” Barry swallowed once before clenching his jaw tightly for a moment, “Just, just hold on a second and I’ll get you to Caitlin, okay? And then you’re gonna be answering a lot of questions.” His voice was tight with emotions.

Len didn’t have time to take a breath before he was being carefully cradled in Barry’s hold. Blinking once, the twice, they were suddenly at Star Labs with Barry gently laying Len down.

 

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Len woke slowly, to low voice speaking off to the side, eyes fluttering open slowly, he tried to lift his head when hands were suddenly holding him down.

“No, no, Len.” The voice was deep tinted with fear, Barry, which had Len snapping his eyes open, gazing moving around until they landed on him before sliding pass to see Iris standing just behind him. Both looked worried, “You need to stay still, you’ll pop a stitch.”

“Wha-wha’s happenin’?” he croaked out, hands moving up sluggishly to push Barry back, “Wha’ I’m doin’ ‘ere?”

“You got stabbed,” Iris answered, voice angry as she moved around the other side of the bed, grabbing his left hand, while Barry held up a cup of water for Len to drink which he did slowly. “Barry brought you to the labs and Caitlin fixed you up.”

Len swallowed, eyes closing as Barry moved to put the cup back where he’d grabbed it from. “I’ll be outta your hair as soon as I’m able to move,” he keeps his voice soft and hard as he speaks, “You don’t have to stay.”

“What?” “What the hell do you mean?”

Open his eyes, he can see Iris looking furious before turning his head to look over, only to see Barry who looked like he’d been physically hit from Len’s words.

“What do you mean, Len?” Barry’s voice dropped to a whisper, quickly snatching up Len’s free hand and gripping it tightly. “We just got you back, Len, what do you mean you’re gonna leave?”

Scoffing, Len yanked his hands back, using them to push himself up into a sitting position, “Like either of you want me here, Scarlet. Let’s not delude ourselves into pretending otherwise. I’m well aware of where I-”

“What are you talking about?” Iris cut in, drawing Len’s attention to her as she moved to go stand next to Barry, “And why are you so angry? We aren’t the one who slipped out in the middle of the night and disappeared for nearly a year! You didn’t have to find out from team Arrow about your lover joining a time traveling ship.”

“No, I’m not,” he sneered, carefully swinging his legs over the table, noting thankfully that he still had his pants on, even though he was shirtless. “I’m just the one who came back to you both married with a kid.” He carefully slid off the table, causing the pair to move back a step, “So, I get it, really. Now just tell me where my shirt and jacket are and I’m gone.”

Silence descended on them, tense and uncomfortable as they stared at one another before Barry flashed away, and Iris looked like she was gearing up for a fight, when Barry suddenly zipped back in, holding the child he’d seen them with that day.

“This is Netty,” Barry started, while he wasn’t quite holding her out for Len to take, he was showing her to the older man, “Her full name is Linette Norah Snart Allen.”

Len felt his breath catch, as a pang of hurt spread through his chest, he went to open his mouth but was stopped as Barry continued to speak.

“She’s named after her grandmothers,” he murmured quietly, smiling softly down at the sleeping baby in his arms. “She’s got her Papa’s blue eyes and her mama’s temper but she smiles just as much as her daddy does.”

Len blinked as he took in Barry’s words, sitting there dumb founded for a moment before finally opening his mouth to ask in a trembling voice, “Bl-blue eyes?”

Iris nodded, her face still showing her anger, while Barry lifted his head and gave Len a shy nod. “She’s _our_ daughter,” Iris waved her hand between the three of them. “And she turns four months old in ten days.”

“Yo-you mean?” he stuttered, eyes snapping to the sleeping child, trying to swallow around the lump growing in his throat. “Sh-she’s-” he cut himself off, hand moving up to cover his mouth and shaking his head for a moment and dropped his hand, eyes going wide. “No, no, she, she can’t be, because you, no.”

“Len,” Iris murmured, face dropping her anger as she stepped up to him, hands moving up to grip his face and forced him to look at her. “Take a breath and shut up.” She moved to lean her forehead against his, pressing a quick kiss to his lips, which didn’t take long for Len’s hands to fly up and grip her waist.

“No fair,” Barry pouted, shifting Netty in his arms as he playfully glared at the kissing pair, not that they seemed to notice but they did pull back from one another, allowing Barry to step up, moving to sit next to Len.

Len’s eyes snapped down, taking in the little girl, his no, no their little girl still sleeping soundly nestled safely in the speedster’s arms. “Can, can I hold her?” he asked uncertainly, voice threaded with a small trace of apprehension, almost like he was afraid they’d tell him no, tell him it was all a joke and that this wasn’t real.

“Of course you can,” Barry grinned, movements slow and gentle, as Iris helped Len position his arms in the right way, before he passed Netty over to the former criminal. “She’s a heavy sleeper right now, which Joe tells us won’t last much longer.” He smiled, watching Len cradle the baby in his arms.

“Lise slept like that when she was a baby,” Len murmured quietly, “Worried me,” he continued on almost absent mindedly, as he carefully shifted her so he could bring his right hand up to lightly trace her features with his fingertips.

Iris and Barry shared a smile over Len and Netty, before they all fell in a comfortable silence as Len soaked in the fact he was a father, that he was holding his child in his arms.

“I thought I didn’t matter,” Len murmured after a few moments of silence. “Got back and tracked you down,” he continued, eyes staying on the baby, “Thought I was just fun for you.” He swallowed once, then again before finally lifting wet eyes to look first at Iris then to Barry before going back to Iris. “That you’d both realized you only wanted each other.”

“Oh Lenny,” Iris felt her heartbreak a little, hand moving up to wipe at the stray tear that had slipped out. “We want you, of course we want you. We want to spend our lives with you.”

“We tried to find you, tried to contact you but after we found out from Arrow,” Barry started, only to be interrupted when Len told them he knew it was Oliver Queen, “When Oliver told us that Ray said you’d all joined in on a mission to save the world, we didn’t know what to do.”

“We found out about two weeks after you left, that I was nearly two months along,” Iris finally spoke, though her voice was soft, Len could hear the traces of anger and hurt in it. “We tried everything we could think of but,” she paused to shake her head and move to pace in front of them. “We didn’t think you were coming back, so we decided to at least honor you by naming her after your mother.”

Len felt himself flinch at Iris’s words, eyes snapping down to look at the baby once again. “I got back eleven days ago,” he spoke softly, kept himself still and eyes trained on Netty’s chest, simply watched her breath for a moment before going on. “I saw you two, and her. Saw the rings on your fingers and figured I’d just rather not hear what I always knew all along.”

“I wish you would have,” Barry stated, leaning over to press a quick kiss to Len’s jaw, “We could have avoid this and you wouldn’t have been miserable these last two weeks,” he moved to rest his head on Len’s shoulder, lifting his hand to run his fingertips over Netty’s cheek.

“We also could have given you this as well,” Iris added, pulling out a ring and holding it out to Len, causing the older man to look up.

“What?” Len felt his face scrunch up before his eyes snapped down when he suddenly found his arms empty of Netty, glancing to the side seeing Barry holding the baby, grinning at him. He turned back when he felt Iris grab his left hand, slipping the ring on to his ring finger, “What are you doing?”

“We’re marrying you, you idiot,” she rolled her eyes before lacing her hand with his, reaching over to curl a finger around Barry’s right pinkie. “We wouldn’t get married, if we couldn’t marry you. So, Barry and I got us all matching rings and now that your back, we can finally have our ceremony.”

Len felt like he was stuck in mud as he tried to process her words, “Ceremony?” he finally croaked out, eyes snapping back and forth between his lovers.

 

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**Author's Note:**

> I'm [Nixie](http://nixie-deangel.tumblr.com/). I adore comments!


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